Peppermint Kisses
by scissorsafeties
Summary: Noel and Bernard are the top two elves at the North Pole. Because of this, Santa's rule is they aren't allowed to be together. But the attraction is just too strong to resist. What happens if Santa finds out they're going behind his back? Bernard/OC
1. Santa's Warning

"Bernard! Noel!" Santa Claus yelled from atop the stairs. The two elves looked at him and quickly made their way over.

"Sir," Noel replied simply, clasping her hands behind her back. Bernard stayed silent and crossed his arms.

"We have to talk," Santa looked the two of them over and turned to walk to his office. "Now." Bernard and Noel exchanged nervous glances and followed the man quickly.

"What's this about?" Bernard questioned, walking up to Santa's left side.

"Are we in trouble?" Noel brushed her hair behind her ear nervously. Despite their questions, Santa remained quiet. Once they got to his office, he shut the doors quietly, turning to look at them. He remained silent for several minutes, just looking at the pair. "Santa?" Noel tried again.

"Some of the other elves have been telling me," he paused, "that they're suspicious that you two might have a 'thing' going on." Santa raised his eyebrows, his voice low.

"A 'thing'?" Bernard repeated, shaking his head. "What.. What kind of a 'thing'?"

"You are both aware of course that you two are not allowed to date one another, right?" Santa crossed his arms across his stomach.

"Of course," Noel said quickly. "It would interfere with work productivity."

"That's right," Santa nodded. "Any other elves are fair game, but not each other. You two are both my top elves! What if something were to happen and you two hated each other?"

"We already hate each other, sir," Noel replied, casting a glare quickly at Bernard as he rolled his eyes.

"Neither of us would break the rules, Santa. And _neither of us_ would _ever_ want to see the other in any way other than in a professional manner." Bernard agreed. Santa stayed quiet for a minute, putting his hand to his mouth, considering what the two said.

"Alright," he said finally. "But don't let me catch either of you breaking the rule. I wouldn't want to fire my best elves." Santa opened his office door and let the two elves out, shutting it again behind them. Noel glared at Bernard and walked faster than him. He followed her all the way into the empty mail-room.

"See what you did?" she hissed, spinning around to face him.

"What I did?!" he glared back, appalled. "You're the one who was staring at me practically all day yesterday!"

"Oh?" she snorted. "How would you know I was staring at you all day if you weren't staring back?" Noel teased and a smile crept over her features. Bernard rolled his eyes at her and smiled back. He reached over and gently brought her closer with his fingertips on her hips. "We need to be more careful," she whispered as his lips quickly met hers.

* * *

AN: Alright so this is totally a work-in-progress (as most of it was written in an airport), but I've been watching the Santa Clause movie way too much recently and couldn't resist. The chapters will usually be relatively small (as in one or two might be bigger than 700 words MAYBE) but there'll be a lot of them. It'll pretty much be little snips of Noel and Bernard's lives and blah blah blah. -Elle


	2. As Long as We're Careful

Disclaimer: Obviously don't own the Santa Clause movies because if I did Bernard would've been in the third one and in the other two loads more.

* * *

"Well," Noel started nervously. "I mean, you like me, don't you?" she looked up at him, worry in her eyes.

"Of course I do," he sighed. "But you know the rules, Noel. If anyone were to see us together, we'd both be fired." She looked down. Neither of them could get fired. They wouldn't have anywhere else to go and obviously couldn't just stay there.

"Yeah, you're right," she said dully. "It was a stupid idea."

"Noel," Bernard said, looking at her. He hated to see her looking upset. "Noel, look at me." He put his hands on either side of her face gently and made her look at him. His heart skipped a beat as she looked up at him, her blue-green eyes big and wide. Before he could convince himself otherwise, he leaned in and placed a small peck on her lips. She blinked a few times as he leaned back. "As long as we're careful, we'll be fine." Noel grinned at him and hugged him.

"You mean it? You really mean it?" she let him go and looked up at him. The more logical side of him was starting to kick in again and he suddenly was rethinking about it all.

"Well… On second thought…" he started, but she put her finger to his lips, a soft smile on her own.

"Bernard," she said softly, "as long as we're careful, we'll be fine, right?" he stayed silent for a minute then sighed heavily before smiling at her.

"Right." He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist gently, pressing his lips to hers. Softly at first, then as if taken over with a lust he was unaware existed, he deepened the kiss, bringing her closer to him still.

He was tentative at first. Noel was too, of course, in her own way. Neither of them wanted anyone to find out. Rumors spread quickly at the North Pole, so more often than not they avoided each other completely when the other elves were around. It wasn't easy though, as there was bound to be at least one elf wherever you went.


	3. Peppermint Kisses

Disclaimer: Obviously don't own the Santa Clause movies because if I did Bernard would've been in the third one and in the other two loads more. And for real I don't think they'll kiss in like every chapter that's just sorta how it's worked out so far… Unless like, that's a good thing?

* * *

"Noel," Bernard crossed over to Noel's desk quickly, flipping through some papers he had in his hands. "How far are you?" He handed her a packet and looked up at her.

"About three-quarters of the way through. Thanks," she replied absentmindedly, shrugging as she took the packet without so much as an upward glance at him.

"We don't have all year, Noel! We need those reports in. Now."

"Oh, come on," she laughed. "It isn't even Easter yet. What's up? Why so extra-grumpy?" Bernard just shook his head. Noel stood up from her chair and walked around her desk, stopping in front of him. "Bernaaard…."

"I don't see why they have to be kissing _all the time_," Bernard complained to her, crossing his arms and scowling. Noel just raised her eyebrows at the boy in front of her.

"Who?"

"Sally and Curtis," he replied shortly and Noel giggled quietly. "Ever since they got together it's been nothing but kissing. I don't even get what she sees in him! I mean he's such a… _Curtis._"

"You know what it's like to kiss an elf, don't you?" she snickered. Bernard only scowled more at her.

"Of course not," he snapped and Noel smiled at him.

"Really? You've _never _kissed anyone?" she asked and he shook his head. "It's like… Well," she paused and leaned forward, quickly closing the space between them and pressing her lips to his. He kissed her back only until he realized what he was doing and pushed her away from him gently. She glanced away, her cheeks turning light pink. The two were silent for a while.

"Peppermint," he said finally and her head snapped to look at him. "With a small hint of chocolate kisses and cocoa." Noel smiled big at him, her face still pink.

"Exactly right."


	4. Romantic-Romeo-Juliet-Style

Disclaimer: Yeah, I still don't own the Santa Clause movies, Jack Frost probably would have been hotter (badum tss) like in the Rise of the Guardians movie (totally not a bad thing a cartoon is hot).

* * *

"Bernard! Noel!" Santa exclaimed, suddenly standing behind the two of them. The two jumped away from each other instantly, looking anywhere but in each other's direction. Bernard's ears were red and Noel's cheeks turned bright pink.

"S-Santa! I'm sorry, we…" Bernard stammered.

"…We didn't hear…" Noel tried to continue for him. Santa was silent for a minute, his hands behind his back, face straight.

"Well," he finally began solemnly, "I would just like to say…" Bernard and Noel both waited for the worst.

"It's about time!" Santa laughed, suddenly grinning from ear to ear. "Curtis and I were taking bets on how long it'd take for you to finally get together." His grin widened and he raised his eyebrows at the two elves. They were both silent- dumbfounded. Bernard thought for sure they would both be fired if Santa ever found out, yet here he was saying it was about time?

"We'll… pack up our things, sir," Noel said quietly, her eyes glued to the floor. Bernard looked at her then glanced at Santa tentatively.

"What're you, taking a holiday? This close to Christmas?" Santa watched Noel, confused. Noel's eyes darted up to Santa, wide and confused.

"But… But you said…" she stammered and Santa laughed.

"I was making it harder for you two to get together- so it'd be more 'romantic-Romeo-Juliet-style'."

"You do realize they both kill themselves at the end, right?" Bernard glared, finally speaking. Santa shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd just forget that part…" he murmured.

"So," Bernard started, stealing another glance at Noel. "We're not fired then, right?" he watched Santa carefully.

"Why would I fire my two head elves for being happy?" he stared. Noel blinked a few times, surprised she hadn't thought of that earlier. Bernard opened his mouth as if to speak but just stood there, silent. After a minute he closed ir again, nodding.

"Santa," he said simply and paused just a second before walking away quickly, wringing his wrists nervously. Noel stood a minute longer in the awkward silence with Santa just staring at her expectantly.

"Sir," she said finally, clearing her throat.

"Yes, Noel?" he asked quietly, raising his eyebrows.

"Uh," she started lamely, glancing around for any eavesdroppers. "Do you mind not mentioning this to anyone?" she asked, starting to get a little of her confidence back. Santa smiled warmly at her.

"Of course, Noel." Noel let out a sigh of relief. "But there is one thing I have to mention… You'll have to let Bernard know, too."

"Oh, right. What is it?" she looked up at him. It was Santa's turn to feel nervous now.

"Technically speaking, you two aren't allowed to be together," he glanced around and bent in closer, his tone dropping. "And if you two aren't careful there can be very extreme consequences. Not from me, of course, but... Like I said earlier, I couldn't care less if you two're dating. I love the idea! But there are others who… Don't. So just… Promise me you two will be careful, okay?" Noel was silent for a minute, taking it all in. She wet her lips and took a deep breath in.

"Understood, sir."


	5. In For Questioning

Author Note: Wooow shortest chapter yet! It's just kinda to get me running again, so its tiny :)

Disclaimer: Again, yeah, I still don't own the Santa Clause movies I would have kept David Krumhotlz all to myself.

* * *

"Wh- Do something!" Bernard shouted, one hand on the back of his head, the other on the desk in front of him for support.

"What am I supposed to do? Bernard, I already told you, there's nothing that I ca-"

"But you're _Santa_," his voice cracked a little and he put his other hand on the desk. "There _has_ to be _something_ you can say to change their minds…" Santa sighed and sat back in his chair. "Why did it have to be her?" Bernard asked more to himself than to Santa. His head tilted down and Santa could see he was trembling. It had been a year since Santa had caught Bernard and Noel in the back hallway, and he knew that they still were a couple. He knew why Bernard was so shaken. If the two of them were caught they would both lose their jobs and have to leave the North Pole forever.

"Look," he started, rubbing his forehead with one hand, "if they want to take Noel in for questioning about the fraud, then we have to let them. And we especially wouldn't want _you_ causing a fuss about it, either; it might make them suspicious…" Bernard's head shot up and he looked at Santa. He knew that he had been beat.

"But if she were to let something slip by accident-" he tried arguing but Santa waved him off.

"You and I both know she wouldn't do that. Even on accident." Bernard nodded nervously and glanced around the room. "You two will be fine, Bernard. They won't find out anything."


End file.
